Background
Karl Bodmer was born on February 11, 1809, in Zurich, Switzerland.
He had an elder brother named Rudolf.
artist engraver illustrator painter
Karl Bodmer was born on February 11, 1809, in Zurich, Switzerland.
He had an elder brother named Rudolf.
Karl Bodmer received his first drawing lessons from his uncle, a watercolorist and engraver, Johann Jakob Meyer. Bodmer and his elder brother Rudolf accompanied Meyer on his artistic trip around Switzerland.
Karl Bodmer started his artistic career as a painter and engraver in 1828 moving from his homeland to the city of Koblenz in Germany. While there, he was noticed by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied who invited the artist to accompany him in the expedition to the American West. Maximilian and his team traveled up the Missouri River visiting the nowadays regions of Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana.
During the scientific trip which lasted from May 17, 1832 to 1834, Bodmer produced about four hundred watercolors showing the everyday life of the American Indian tribes with their rituals and environment. After the expedition, Karl Bodmer came back to Germany and later relocated to France.
While in Paris, the artist reproduced many of his paintings from the expedition as aquatints. All the reproductions were included in the book on Maximilian’s journey called ‘Reise in das innere Nord-Amerika in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834’. Two volumes of the book were published for the first time in Germany in 1939 and 1941. Its English version called ‘Maximilian Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832-1834’ appeared in London in 1843-1844.
Then Karl Bodmer settled down in Barbizon and joined the Barbizon School famous for its landscapes and animalist paintings. Bodmer worked on paintings, prints and illustrated various books.
In 1850, the artist participated at Paris Salon presenting to the public his painting titled ‘La Foret en Hiver’ (Forest in Winter). The canvas was made at Fontainebleau forest. The engravings of the artwork were popular during the following decade.
Young Amerindian
Young Piegan Blackfeet Woman
Forest of Fontainebleau
Karl Bodmer Winter Village of the Minatarres
Assiniboin Indians
Along the Wabash (Right)
Along the Wabash (Left)
Noapeh Assiniboin Indian
Mato-Tope, a Mandan Chief
The Fox River near New Harmony in Indiana
Fort Pierre
Indians Hunting the Bison
Abdih Hiddisch, Mandan Chief
Woman of The Cree Tribe
New Harmony
Mouth of the Wabash (Indiana)
Psihdja Sahpa, Yanktonian Indian
Camp of the Gros Ventres
Dacota Woman and Assiniboin Girl
Painting of Trachemys Scripta Elegans (Wied)
Fort Union on the Missouri
A Family of Wild Boar
Forest with Ducks and Frogs
Deer in a Landscape
The Delaware Water Gap
Susquehanna near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
The Great Traveller Charles Alexandre Lesueur in the Forest
River Scene with Barn Swallows
Stolzenfels Castle, in the background Lahneck Castle
Quotes from others about the person
Working with Karl Bodmer, Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied described his partner as “a lively, very good man and companion, seems well educated, and is very pleasant and very suitable for me; I am glad I picked him. He makes no demands, and in diligence he is never lacking.”